This class is intended to introduce M.A. and Ph.D. students to Central Asia (or depending on who is making the definitions, "Central Eurasia") as a research and teaching field. It explores the emergence of "Central Asia" as a separately defined region by approaching it both internally (geographically, culturally, environmentally) and through its variable connections with Russian, Chinese, South Asian, and Islamic/Middle Eastern affairs. The course offers an opportunity to read classic as well as more recent interdisciplinary scholarship in Central Eurasian studies. We will cover places often discussed separately: in current pariance, this means five former Soviet republics (Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan) along with other parts of Central / Inner Asia such as Afghanistan, Xinjiang, Mongolia, and area of Iran, Pakistan, and the Russian Federation. This course explores the salience of such political lines, and throughout the semester we will consider the changing connections, exchanges, influences (and Conflicts) that stretch across them.